Glencorrib
HISTORY AND ORIGINS OF THE PLACE NAME – GLENCORRIB
The village name Glencorrib was a place name invented in the 1790’s by the Browne family of Glencorrib House. This name was later given to the townland itself.
Arthur Browne
The Browne family originated from Ellistron, Kilmaine and Hollywell, Ballyhaunis. They owned what was left of the Mochorra castle and lands, previously held by the MacDonnell Gallowglass family. Arthur Browne built a great house and Lodge on his Bunnafollistran estate prior to his marriage to Mary Kirwan of Dalgan Park, Shrule in 1796 and named it Glencorrib House. Arthur Browne’s ancestry can be traced to the 1500s. The Glencorrib estate comprised of the villages of Mochara, Cahir, Bunnafollistran and Ravenhill. Very little is written about Arthur, except for a letter that he wrote to his sister Mary on 15th May 1755.
Robert Dillon-Browne
Robert Dillon-Browne was the only son of Arthur Browne. Robert Dillon Browne was the outstanding member of that family and the most remarkable landlord in our area prior to the famine, quite a character. He was able to amaze the multitudes by his speeches at public meetings, he was well known as a duellist and always carried a pistol with him, he was fond of drink which often left him short of money, and most of all he was a personal friend of Daniel O’Connell whom he strongly supported in as many ways as he could. He was a well known MP of Mayo and supported Daniel O’Connell’s obstruction policy in parliament. He died bankrupt in 1850.
George Gore Ouseley Higgins
In 1850, the Glencorrib estate was purchased by Captain Fitzgerald Higgins. The house was later to be the residence of his son George Gore Ouseley Higgins. In 1850, on the death of Robert Dillon Browne, George Ouseley Higgins was elected MP of Mayo defeating Isaac Butt. Colonel Higgins was a liberal in favour of tenant rights and every measure of civil and religious liberty. He served as MP for 7 years. George Ouseley Higgins leased the site of the old Glencorrib National School (now the community centre) to the Board of Education in January 1853. That lease continued until the death of King Edward VIII in 1910. Then the lease expired and it wasn’t until this year 2010, that the title to the site was finally resolved. George Gore Ouseley Higgins never married and died on 8th May 1874 at his London residence. In his will of 1874, George’s sister Sr. Margaret Higgins (Sister’s of Charity) was empowered to raise the sum of £1,000 by way of a mortgage on the security of the estate. This made it possible for her to finance the construction of the Church in Glencorrib in 1876.
General John Palmer Brabazon
Following on death of Margaret Higgins in 1903, George’s cousin General John Palmer Brabazon inherited the estate. He commanded the 10th Hussars in the Boer War and the Afghan War of 1878-79. He finished his life at the court of George V. His estate was managed by Michael O’Dea who managed the estate until the death of Brabazon in 1922.
The tenant purchase
The estate was eventually transferred to its tenant farmers by was of an indenture (loan) made on 19th March 1921. The 17 purchasers were Patrick Tom Flood, Patrick (Pat) Flood, Michael Flood, Thomas Mohan, Patrick Mohan, Thomas Donoghue, Edward Morrin, John Murphy, Thomas Madden, Thomas Martyn, James Murphy, Patrick (& Nora) Biggins, Patrick Moran, Michael Murphy, Patrick Hennelly, Patrick Maye and Michael O’Dea (all farmers). The transfer was registered at 1.55pm on 7th March 1923, the land was vested in the ownership of the local farmers and the tension and strife between landlord and tenant was finally laid to rest.
Short synopsis taken from Glencorrib National Schools – Rolling back the years 1854-2004.
